ECS L7VTA vs. K7VTA3-RAID

[jswillms]

Anyone got a clue if it is worth it to wait for this new ECS board. I have the K7S5A that I am real happy with, but want to go to a RAID config. K7VTA3-RAID at $69 bucks plus $4 fedex shipping. Hard to pass up. Any opinions? BTW, will probably buy the 1600 XP that newegg is blowing out at $55 bucks. Don't overclock anyway..

 

[Peter]

Since onboard IDE RAID always is the exact same stuff as on PCI IDE RAID cards, attached to the very same PCI bus the cards go onto, you don't need to swap boards. Buy a card.

regards, Peter

 

[lsman]

look like the KT400 has
1 MHz FSB setting

 

[lsman]

Woo! L7VTA will be about $90 when it come to US.
KT400 with RAID. But i still think it has to be lower to compete...

 

[Goi]

The K7VTA3 will be more limiting than your ECS K7S5A in terms of tweakability, but it will definitely be faster. Whether its worth the upgrade is up to you I guess. Personally I have both motherboards on 2 different systems and I'm pretty happy with either of them.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

WIll this board be available without RAID? THat would lower the price significantly.

 

[Goi]

Not sure about the L7VTA, but the K7VTA3 is available without RAID, and without LAN, that's the version I have, but with onboard sound. I'm not sure if there's a version without onboard sound even, but I doubt it.

 

[metroplex]

Is the K7VTA3 reliable???? (ECS is the manuf, I've never heard of them)

and where do I find the rear plate - that's a new config for this year right?

 

[Goi]

Well, not many people own an ECS K7VTA3, so not many will be able to tell you of its reliability. I built a system for my dad using one, and he's been running it 24/7 since early May without any problems. The only crashes and reboots that happened were because of overclocking/heating problems. At default speeds, the system never needed a reboot until I applied a WindowsUpdate or something similar that required a reboot.

At its price(at least over here, where its barely costs more than a K7S5A and less than a K7S6A or other SiS745 mobos), ECS hit a bullseye at the budget market that doesn't do hardcore overclocking. If you're looking for a motherboard for hardcore overclocking, look elsewhere - this isn't the motherboard to get, with its lack of 1MHz FSB speeds, voltage or multiplier settings. However, its a real gem for its price, and even has some admittedly limited FSB speeds other than the default 133/166MHz settings.

For more info on the system I have built around the K7VTA3, you can look at my system rigs.

As for the motherboard plate...I'm not sure if the L7VTA uses a new design, but even if it does, it will probably come with a compatible plate. All motherboards that I know of ship with compatible plates.

btw ECS is also known as EliteGroup, and used to produce the notorious PCChips(spelling?) that were pretty much execrable, but ever since the K7S5A their products have been more popular...they're definitely not tier 1, maybe not even tier 2, but I've found them to be pretty reliable, consistent and good performing for their extremely low price.

 

[Peter]

It's actually the other way round ... ECS got absorbed into the PC-Chips group of companies, and now Elitegroup is the retail brand while PC-Chips is the OEM business. Other than for the name stamp, the stuff comes from the same engineers and the same production lines. Not that this is a bad thing ... would Shuttle and Abit otherwise have PC-Chips make their stuff? You get reliable product with no nonsense on, that's why they're cheap. Be ready to help yourself though, there is no end user support beyond what the web sites offer.

regards, Peter

 

[metroplex]

A person wants to sell me two sticks of 256MB PC2700 DDR (Crucial) along with the K7VTA3 (not sure what revision it is, but he bought it along with the XP2100+ that I have now) for $150 shipped.

I figure its only $10 more than the web price for the Crucial RAM, and basically gives me the mobo for free (retail price is about $50)

I could go out and buy a better KT333 board for $100+, but I'm strapped for cash and need to get something that will run reliably.

I'm RMA'ing my Abit KG7-RAID (won't post with the 1.4 or the XP2100+ even with the 9M BIOS).

 

[Goi]

Thanks for correcting me Peter

metroplex, that sounds like a good deal. Make sure he doesn't have any existing problems with it though...couldn't you ask him which version he has? I mean, just by looking at it he should be able to tell if it has LAN, onboard audio and RAID. The revision number should also be imprinted on the board itself. Most versions are version 3.1 I think, that's the one I have.